Chapter 31: Reiko
A/N: Sorry that I've been missing! I've been caught up in some IRL stuff, and I also lost interest in writing for a short bit after witnessing something horrible on a Discord Server that caused me to leave said server right away, it left me quite shaken and I had to take a step back for a week for that alone to process what happened there. But anyways, as much as I would love to keep the regular Sunday Bi-weekly schedule uploads, I'm not sure I'll be able to do that in the future. Don't worry, I don't plan on quitting writing fanfiction or this story in particular, I just will upload chapters when I can as soon as they are done. :)
Also! As I've said before, UA is now a University. Thus all students are 18 years old at the time of UA High School. Huge shout out to Cosmyk Angel from who DM'd me and gave me an Idea on how to incorporate General Studies into more university tracked courses. 1-C will now be the Pre-Med Track, 1-D will be the Pre-Law Track, and 1-E (where Bakugo was kicked to) is the Law Enforcement track.
Again all chapters have been updated on both AO3 and FF to go with these changes, so I'm sorry if I've flooded your e-mail inboxes with notifications. Also speaking of A03 and FF, as I've stated before the AO3 version was slightly different than the FF version as I made slight improvements. From now on because of the recent retcon, both stories will be the same on both sites. I've finished this chapter yesterday, and I'm starting the next chapter which will be the final chapter before the start of the Sports Festival. I'll get that chapter out as soon as I can, so it might come sooner than two weeks so you won't have to wait, or I might have to take longer because again, my life is changing and thus not predictable.
I hope you enjoy this chapter and like, comment, review, follow, and/or subscribe based on which website you are reading this on! The more you do, the more this story can be shared with hopeful readers!
Roxas
Reiko groggily got out of bed as she woke up to her buzzing alarm clock. Letting out a massive yawn as she stretched her arms out as she starfished while standing up, turning around and giving her now vacated and messy bed a longing look as it gave a call to her to climb back inside its warm folds and accept its loving embrace. With a great amount of self-restraint she ignored the calls and stepped into her water closet. She had a day full of training ahead of her and she couldn't give into her hearts distorted desires of becoming slothful when one of the most important days of her life was around the corner.
Reiko's poor posture was a result of her slouching at her computer as she routinely stayed up into the early hours in the morning watching horror films, YouTube, and reading Fanfiction. She had been attempting to fix this after seeing Aizawa-Sensei constantly looking as though he never got enough sleep and she didn't want that in her future at all.
However, being a night-owl was a very hard habit to break as she had found out these past several weeks. She kept telling herself: one more episode, one more video, or one more chapter. It was a constant cycle that haunted her for once she got into that mindset, it was more often than not she would eventually curse herself as she turned to look out of the window to see the sun rising out in the distance. However, what encouraged her most of all to break the habit was noticing how Izuku looked at her when she managed to get a full night's worth of rest.
But unfortunately this entire week she had relapsed into her old habits. The stress that Izuku had been going through this week had done a number on her. After seeing his bus attacked on the way to the courthouse, she had difficulty falling asleep due to being unable to contact him to see if he was all right. She had hardly gotten any rest at all the entire week and it got to the point that she had fallen asleep in the middle of class and Thirteen, who was subbing in for Kan-Sensei while he was at the trial lectured her in front of the entire class.
That led to an upsetting phone call from her father who was not impressed that he was paying good money for her to attend UA only for her to fall asleep in class because she couldn't act like a proper and responsible adult, going to bed at a proper time and consistent time, every night. He threatened to take away her spending money if he ever got a phone call like that again, rendering her broke because UA didn't give their students enough time off campus to work a part-time job. Then she didn't get any sympathy from her twin brothers, all though there was a lot less shouting and more calmer tones when she spoke to them last.
Her twin brothers were the reason she applied to attend UA in the first place. Both of them had graduated from the hero program at UA 8 years ago and started their own hero agency a few years ago after being Sakura-Sensei's sidekicks for several years. They both had variations of their mother's quirk while Reiko herself only got her father's quirk which made her jealous for a long time. However, after seeing Tokoyami struggle with Dark Shadow, she only then considered herself lucky. Both Yu and Ren also had sentient quirks of their own, and like Dark Shadow, they had a degree of independence. She considered both of them as pseudo-siblings of hers, and they enjoyed helping her prank her brothers, the cake incident in particular.
Her brothers had been texting her more after than usual this week. More out of concern and helping her with suggestions or how to train for the Sports Festival. They had even stopped teasing her about Izuku and the constant references to needing to carry a shovel around. Joking and teasing aside, she still even as an adult aspires to be like them.
They opened their own hero agency finally about a year ago, but it still wasn't much; it was just a bit of rented office space above her mother's brother's coffee shop. But she was still impressed and proud of them anyways despite not being able to afford anything more at the current moment.
She then paused to look at a picture on her nightstand. It was a picture of her family, her, her twin brothers with their quirks, and her mom. The picture was taken when she was three years old when they went on vacation together as a family to Honolulu. She always had mixed feelings about this picture because it was taken a few days before her mother's life was taken from her by a rampaging villain while they were relaxing on Waikiki Beach.
She was taken hostage, but her mother begged to replace her and be the hostage instead. The local heroes had done a complete bungle of the hostage negotiation and the villain had managed to escape, but her mother had not been as fortunate. She remembered not fully understanding what had happened at the time. Not knowing why her older brothers and father were constantly crying. She was too young to process the loss of her mother. It was only when she got older that she began to understand what had happened and had come to terms with it.
It was that incident that drove her brothers to become pro-heroes. To do a better job saving loved ones from villains compared to the atrocious performance that happened back in Hawaii. She had always thought her reasons for becoming a hero were shallow compared to her brothers. It was something she had talked about with Dr. Maruki a few times in the past. However, after each and every session, she had felt like she had made very little progress when it came time to leave that little lounge of his where he held sessions. At least she always left with snacks though.
She put the photograph down and checked her phone as it buzzed as multiple people were messaging her at the same time. The first was from Izuku, confirming the rumor that had spread through the school like wildfire yesterday that he indeed was taken out by a first-year business course student that prior had passed out during the faux hero entrance exam. He explained how the whole thing had been blown out of proportion and he simply hadn't expected the stripes on his PE uniform to jump up and strangle him
She believed him on that part, but she didn't fall for the piss poor excuse he gave on why him jumping off a tall building was a smart idea for him to test his never ever successful flaming wings again. She let him know she was with Recovery Girl on this topic and would personally hand her the baseball bat should he attempt to practice his wings again by taking a swan dive off of a roof. Also, that she would do it gladly and without hesitation.
He then tried to change the subject quite hastily, offering to help train her. Reiko thought about it for a few moments before declining his offer. She told him that she wanted to keep some surprises up her sleeve in case they faced off against one another during the competition. Plus, she also thought by denying Izuku's request, he would interpret it as punishment for his stupidity in his prior actions, which was also true. Besides, she already had plans she couldn't back out of when it came to her training schedule today.
And just like that, it was then that Reiko got messages from her support coordinator, Yui Kodai. Both her and her business coordinator, Hiryu Rin, had done very well during the faux hero entrance exam. However, she was frustrated with both of them when it came to not really wanting to place high in the Sports Festival. Rin made it clear to Reiko that even though his quirk could be good for heroics, his own personal aspirations were more in the Hero Agency Management field so he could help his family agency back in China. Kodai said she simply didn't have the large outgoing personality for being a hero and she wasn't concerned with listening to Reiko's insistence that she would be good at it, citing her excellent performance during the test.
Still, Kodai had agreed to join her at Ground Omega for training today. They would only be joining her for half of the day though so she could spend the other half in the design studio to work on more inventions. In exchange for her time helping her, she agreed to be sworn to secrecy about anything tested while in her presence.
The messages said that she would join her in an hour when Ground Omega became available to them. That meant she had about thirty minutes to spare before heading out given that that particular training ground was a half hour walk away from her dorm. Now, did she really want to shower only to have to walk a long way in the humidity, only to get dirty and sweaty training in a forest? She could always go on her computer and read some more creepy pasta instead. The choice was obvious and a no brainer for her, she sat down at her desk, opened up her laptop all while opening a drawer to pull out a large container of cheeseballs.
If it weren't for the alarm that she had remembered to set, she would've been quite late. Luckily for Reiko, the alarm didn't go off during a very interesting part of whatever story she was reading at the moment like it normally did. As a result, she was able to escape her usual cursed argument of: one more story, one more chapter, or one more paragraph.
So, she managed to make it to Ground Omega on time and spotted her coordinator in the crowd thanks to her bright orange PE Uniform. She waved towards Kaito and Hiro on her way over to them, spotting them easily because once again Kaito was the only person wearing a green uniform amongst the crowd of red, white, blue, and orange.
"How are you holding up?" Reiko asked as she approached her support coordinator, only then noticing that she wasn't visibly carrying any support items with her, "Did you two forget to bring your gear?"
"Being sneaky." Yui said quietly in her ever constantly stoic voice. It was only then that Reiko understood what was going on. Yui's quirk allowed her to change and alter the size of objects. She must have shrunk their inventions down to fit into their pockets before leaving the development studio.
It was then that a klaxon sounded causing all of them to jump as the massive gates to the training ground opened up and the doors to the locker rooms unlocked with a loud thunk, allowing those who wished to drop stuff off before heading in. Reiko told her friend she would meet them on the other side because she wanted to drop the change of clothes that she had brought with her off first.
She hurried into the locker room, ignoring all the chatter, screaming, and excited noises. Seriously, couldn't the rest of the girls act with a modicum of dignity and respect in the locker room? It was just like this in High School. At least she didn't have to deal with that stupid bimbo Utushimi anymore, strutting her stuff in the locker room, putting all of her assets on full display for everyone to see. Reiko thought it was a miracle she never once got pregnant with all the rumors flying around that she was hopping in anyone's bed, guy or girl, if they just simply asked her. Grateful that that annoying woman was out of her life, she rushed out of the locker room and immediately ran into Kodai, nearly knocking her over.
"Are you okay?" Yui hurriedly asked.
"Yeah." Reiko answered all confused for a moment, and then she caught onto what her friend was worried about. "Oh, everything is normal in there."
"Girls." Yui groaned in her monotone voice as her facial features calmed back down; like Reiko, she was a get in and get out type when it came to the locker room. "We should find a secluded spot to test and practice with the support items."
The two teens then moved out through Ground Omega in search of a secluded spot to practice for the Sports Festival. However, finding a spot that wasn't already claimed proved to be challenging. They first went into a cave, only to find Kurorio and his support coordinator deep inside of said cave. Giving that spot up, they went towards a medium sized lake where they found several groups camped around the edge, some had even set out barbeques. Ignoring the enticing smells, they moved throughout the forest, encountering more and more students, including Tenya and his support coordinator Nirengeki Shoda. They were almost resigned to the idea of not having any privacy until they finally found a small clearing on the opposite end of the facility.
Yui then took out her inventions from her pockets where she was hiding them and used her quirk to resize them back to their proper dimensions. Reiko was shocked at the sheer amount of inventions that she had managed to bring with her as they were pulled out of her pockets. The inventor ignored her shocked looks however as she immediately began calibrating and making sure her creations were fine and in working order. It was only after they were done messing with the equipment did they finally begin practicing.
Ground Omega was not the ideal place for Reiko to practice her quirk. Trees were not something she could uproot with her quirk and grass did nothing for combat. She wished she could've been at Ground Beta all three days, but luck like that wasn't in her favor or easy to come by these days. Moaning the loss of the bountiful supply of ammunition in the form of street signs, office furniture and trashcans that she had yesterday, she took out the bag of nuts, bolts, and screws she brought with her and handed them to Yui.
Yui nodded as she took them into the palm of her hand and enlarged them all for Reiko to practice with. Reiko then picked up around ten, Yui's quirk didn't make them just larger but also heavier, and unlike her boyfriend she could only lift the total amount of her body weight. She once tried getting around this when she was in middle school by going on a diet of junk food to increase her own weight. That only upset her father for being deliberately unhealthy and it only hindered her quirk. It turned out that her quirk capacity only counted up to her healthy weight, so she learned the hard way that piling on the pounds didn't help her at all. She wasn't going to make that mistake again after the brutal workouts she had to endure when her father sent her to fat camp.
Once she had about fourteen pieces in the air, she felt the strain begin to affect her brain and so she held them in the air for about an hour before slowly dropping them to the ground one by one. After that she gave her mind a thirty minute break period where she hopped on her phone and watched an episode of the latest horror anime. After that she picked up around eight pieces of the enlarged objects and began flying them around the trees as though they were going around an imaginary racetrack. Although it wasn't a fair race because she ultimately decided which object won, that was until one of the small drones that Kodai had created decided to join the race through the trees and then she got some actual competition.
She had the objects race the drone through the trees through the established circuit that she had created, but the drone was more nimble and had sensors to autocorrect its course to avoid collisions. Reiko's nuts and bolts kept bumping into each other and slamming into the trees. When that happened they fell to the ground where they were left abandoned as the race kept on going because she couldn't waste time in concentrating on lifting them back up into the air again when she was still using the other pieces to race the drones Yui was piloting.
That didn't stop her cursing herself for her lack of concentration however which only loosened said concentration even more as she struggled to have the objects under her control catch up to the drone which was about to complete the circuit. However, luck was not in her favor for Yui sabotaged her at the last second by releasing her quirk at the last moment, throwing her off mental balance as the weight and size of the objects reduced to their original factory settings. The changes caused her to lose control over the remaining nuts and bolts as they fell straight to the ground as Yui's drone crossed the invisible finish line.
"Yui! That was a dirty move!" Reiko called to other side of the clearing as she saw Yui's lips twirl upwards.
"Life isn't fair." Yui said quietly, "Have to be prepared for sudden changes."
"Still, I wasn't expecting it!" Reiko called back, all frustrated and a large headache was coming on.
"That's the point." Yui flatly replied as she then took out her lunch after she had rolled out a blanket for them to both sit on. "Sudden changes happen all the time."
"Why did you do it though?" Reiko grumbled as she plopped a spot on the blanket as she unpacked her own lunch, eyeing with distain a can of Ragdoll Green Tea Flavored Pussy Hydration energy drink that Yui had taken out of her lunch bag. "Why do you even drink those?"
Yui for her part looked at Reiko all confused while staring at the newly opened can, "What do you mean Reiko? Do you not like the name? You know it is just licensed by the Wild Wild Pussy Cats? Not a fan of Double Entendre?"
"Not that. But I have always found the name… well… unsettling." Reiko said, still giving the can a dirty look, "I just once drank them regularly in high school but then I drank a few in a single day and it made me feel like my stomach was trying to turn itself inside out. My dad then gave me a stern lecture on how I should never be drinking that kind of stuff and how they can really mess up your body."
"Why would you drink more than one a day?" Yui asked, as she took a bite of the salad that she had brought with her. "I think that if I had more than one in a day my hands would get all jittery. Not useful for putting stuff together."
"I did it because I liked the taste of them." Reiko shrugged as she took a bite of her sandwich. "My father never knew I was drinking them until my stomach wanted to burst through my skin."
"Isn't your father a doctor?" Yui asked and Reiko nodded, "Did he say anything specifically on how they would mess up your body?"
"He had one patient who never drank in their life and he thought he was a raging alcoholic." Reiko explained as she took a guzzle from her water bottle, "He confronted them and started getting frustrated with them, saying they could be honest with them. But yeah, that patient's liver was completely messed up and my dad only put the pieces together after he found out that his patient was drinking three to four large energy drinks every day for the past year and a half."
At that news Yui turned to look at the her drink which she had set down. Eventually she picked it up and guzzled a bit of it, "Worth it." This caused Reiko to shake her head.
"I don't know what to do with you sometimes Yui." Reiko moaned as she finished polishing off her sandwich and popped a few headache pills into her mouth. "One moment you are a shy and monotone gal with little to no emotions, and then others you are an unreasonable goofball."
"At least I've kissed my boyfriend." Yui said flatly staring Reiko in the eyes, causing her grey haired friend to splutter.
"What do you mean by that?!" Reiko shot back, her cheeks reddening, "How could you know that?"
"You would've told me otherwise." Yui again answered in her monotone voice, "Besides, the Izuku Midoriya fan club would've posted something in the group if he did."
"Fan… WHAT?" Reiko spluttered as Yui then took her phone out and pulled up a small invitation only group titled: Izuku Midoriya Official Fan Girl Club. Scrolling down she was flustered with what was being posted about her boyfriend. There were comments on rumors of his suspected size, pictures of him walking about campus and eating lunch, to whole fanfictions posted of them doing highly inappropriate things with him.
"Why are you a part of this?!" Reiko asked, her face now a tomato.
"Setsuna invited me." Yui flatly replied as she started packing up their picnic.
"Why does this group even exist?!" Reiko shouted, as she stood up, throwing her hands in the air.
"Because he is the hottest guy among the first years." Yui said plainly as she started to shrink her inventions back down, putting them in her pockets.
"I thought you didn't even like guys!" Reiko protested, "Why are you even following that stupid page?"
"One, I'm actually bi, and two, so I could show you and inform you of its existence." Yui responded as she patted the dirt off of her PE Uniform. "Also the stories are quite fun to read."
"You are seriously going to leave me here on that note?!" Reiko called out to her friend as she moved out of the clearing in the direction of the exit.
"Yep." Yui said as Reiko lost sight of her in the dense foliage.
Reiko felt like screaming into the air, but realized nothing good would come of it. She was now stuck alone in the middle of the forest with no realistic way to practice with her quirk. Sure there were a few sticks laying on the ground, but that was about it. She didn't have the strength to uproot any trees or anything like that. With nothing left to it, she made her way back to the entrance of the training ground to head to one of the more traditional gyms on campus.
She was halfway back to the training ground and had just gotten to the lake when she ran into one of the few people she didn't really want to talk to right now, but her emotions got the better of her.
"Setsuna! We need to talk now!" Reiko called out and Setsuna turned around to stare at her friend. She said something to her support coordinator who was next to her and approached Reiko as she was approaching her, meeting in the middle on the banks of the lake.
"What is it Reiko?" Setsuna asked, not knowing what had gotten Reiko so upset.
"What is it?!" Reiko shot back, her voice rising in anger, "What is this about running a group that does nothing but admire and post lewd stories about my boyfriend?!"
Setsuna's eyes went wide as she realized what was now going on.
"Woah Woah! Easy there Reiko." Setsuna said, raising her hands in front of herself to placate the young woman staring her down, "Who said I run the group? Because I don't. I was merely invited to be a part of the group. Who told you about it anyways? You weren't supposed to find out."
"Yui told me!" Reiko growled, her eyes narrowing as she stared her friend down, "And what do you mean I wasn't supposed to find out? How the heck do you think I wasn't going to find out?!"
"Reiko, please calm down and relax." Setsuna said nervously, fear etched on her face as she for once saw Reiko truly angry for the first time. She was used to dealing with a more calm and stoic Reiko, not one who was fired up. "Listen, it was Nejire who started up the group."
"Nej started up the group?!" Reiko laughed, but it wasn't a kind and cheerful laugh at all, just the opposite, "You expect me to believe that?! That our RA would do something like that?!"
"Ummm yeah?" Setsuna responded, looking left and right to make sure no one else was watching them, "You know how Nej and Midoriya are. Nearly every dang time they come back from those afternoon special lessons with Principal Nezu they are teasing each other like brother and sister. You haven't noticed the banter between them? This seems right up that alley of pranking each other. I'm sure she didn't mean anything malicious about it."
"Well do you have any idea how Izuku is going to react if he ever finds out about this?!" Reiko growled at her friend in an aggressive whisper, as though thinking that Izuku could show up about any second now. "The whole reason he never dated anyone in high school was because everyone was after him just because they thought he was powerful for having multiple quirks! He hated having to deal with people fawning attention over him just because he didn't want to do anything lewd in a janitor's closet or underneath the baseball stands late at night! He could never stand it! And you supporting this type of group behind his back is only reinforcing what he had to deal with in High School! I would tell you more of how this will mess with him, but doing so would reveal personal secrets of his!"
"Look… Reiko… Please." Setsuna said quietly, her eyes wide as she took a few steps backwards from the irate woman in front of her. "We honestly thought it was a joke. None of us meant any actual harm by it. It was all done in good fun and laughs."
"Good fun?!" Reiko snapped, ripping Setsuna's phone out of her hand and pulling up the group, "Seriously?! Some of the pictures look like they were taken without his knowledge! You understand that those taking these pictures are acting like creepy stalkers!? And some of these stories are out right explicit and disgusting! How the fuck would you like it if you found out that a bunch of guys were stalking you, taking pictures of you as you went about your day, and then writing lewd stories involving you and them performing these acts!?"
Tears were now starting to form on the edges of Setsuna's eyes, "Listen, I get your point Reiko! I'll ask Nej right away to take the group down. That it's gone too far."
"You better!" Reiko snarled, "Because if it is not I'm filing an official and formal complaint. Do I make myself clear?"
Setsuna nodded and rushed off towards the trees and Reiko saw her lift her phone to her ear as she made a phone call. Still angry she stomped off through the forest, continuing her journey back to the locker room to get her stuff and head back to her dorm room. She had lost all motivation to train for the rest of the day.
She plowed through the trees, kicking up dust and rocks out of her way as she made her way. Her quirk started to act up in her anger as small pebbles and branches were affected by her quirk as she past on by, lifting up slightly and shaking. She didn't want to talk to anyone, ignoring the few people that called out to her, including Tenya and Shoda.
When she got back to the dorm she was met with an upset looking Nejire Hadou waiting for her on one of the couches. She made an effort to get up and talk to her, taking a few steps forward, but Reiko wasn't having any of it.
"Not a damn word." Reiko said quietly, but every syllable left a huge impact in the empty common room. "You are older than us. You are our RA. You should've known better. I don't want your apology. You are just lucky my boyfriend never found out because he sure as hell has enough on his plate mental health wise; after all he did just come back from Japan's biggest trial in decades because he got his brother out of a Hell hole, and then only to go into a Sports Festival that is broadcasted to all of Japan. A tournament that will affect both his education and his career permanently given that it is his first time appearing on national television, trying to prove he is at least worthy of doing the job he has dreamt of doing since he was a little kid. I mean, how would you react under all that mental stress only to learn that there are a bunch of stalkers secretly following you around and writing graphic stories about what they want to sexually do with his body. You were wrong to do that Nej, especially since you are supposed to be the responsible one here."
With that, Reiko walked right past Nejire, not even looking her in the eyes as she walked up to the elevator to head back to her dorm room.
